Morris Minor Owners Club

Well, the thermostat housing came away with barely a struggle - the problem is that it can't move enough to free the thermostat itself because of the bulk of the thermostat keeping it all lodged in place.

well if you're replacing the thermostat, then you could 'adjust' the old one (hammer and blunt instrument) to get clearance for the housing past - plus a little tweak of the pipe position upwards may do the trick.
The thermostat shouldn't be very tall unless it was put in upsidedown!

[I've never actually done this... but it seems like a reasonable idea]

When I first did it I just did the two nuts and torqued it back up

Snap and never had a problem doing it that way either.

rayofleamington wrote:well if you're replacing the thermostat, then you could 'adjust' the old one (hammer and blunt instrument) to get clearance for the housing past - plus a little tweak of the pipe position upwards may do the trick

hmmmm yeah..... but that doesn't solve the basic problem, about future access to both pipe and thermostat.... i'm kinda looking for a neat future-proof fix....... sounds like most peeps don't think there would be a problem for me to undo those two nuts and lift off the pipe brackets...... do you think that's not a good idea?

The only force on the studs with a cold non-running engine is caused by the nuts holding it all together. Given the headgasket may well have glued the head to the block anyway, I really don't see a problem with simply undoing them - I've had cars with stripped/ sheared studs that have driven perfectly well and suffered no damage, so really just whizzing them off and torquing back up ought to be fine!

I'd still pull the head if I were you - There's really very little to go wrong, and it's well worth it to be able to clean the chambers/ valves up, get the crud off the pistons, and check everything's as it should be.

This suggestion is a bit 'out there'... but you could get rid of the heater in the car, and then you wouldn't need the pipework to it!

Always liking the "out-there" solutions - thanks very much for the lateral thinking badfelafel

They are fine in other climates! *grin* Haven't experienced winter in a moggy yet, and not sure I fancy it without any heater!

do you think that's not a good idea?

It's not a 'good' idea however it will probably be fine ;-)

On a cast iron head'd car I wouldn't worry about undoing a couple of head bolts.

If we were talking alloy heads then I'd be worried.

Stat housings are a complete B****. I ended up battering mine and fitting a new one. Such was my temper and its lack of cooperation!

Stat housings are a complete B****. I ended up battering mine and fitting a new one. Such was my temper and its lack of cooperation!

Most of that is down to not running with a 50% antifreeze solution all year round, making sure the studs have a bit of clearance, if necessary open the holes up a tiny bit so the housing slips on and use copper grease on the studs, or change the housing for one of Minor Developments brass ones.

Did mine a few days ago, just bend them out the way then bend them back again when your done. Had to smash the housing off though because it was seized solid but i have another car for spares so i wasn't worried. You might need new studs and housing but if you do bend the studs you can bend them back again, Good luck.

Oi Nikki - someone's nikked your shell!!!